Bazza

And have a look at this search result for Brinkley on NMB: search.php?keywords=brinkley&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search Regards, Barry Thomas.

Yes... Interesting thread as I've just seen a wakizashi with the hi painted a cream colour. I say "painted" because I have never seen any colour other than red. Any one else seen cream????? I think it's a gaijin amateur's work. Best regards, Barry Thomas.

A short time ago I reported the Irish police as having seized 7,000 swords. I have just found this discussion: http://nihontoclub.com/news/samurai-swo ... in-ireland The text accompanying the link (part of a discussion group) is below my sign off. Regards, Barry Thomas. ------------------------------- Talks about potential sword ban started in December 2007 after another high profile attack involving a 'samurai sword'. It is known that Department of Justice had been in contact with local martial arts organisations (Iaido Association of Ireland is particular) is order to avoid unnecessary restrictions for martial arts practitioners and authentic sword collectors. In the light of recent global trends to regulate possession and transportation of 'samurai' swords (which sometimes comes in quite narrow-minded forms) the new Irish legislation appears to be reasonable, especially taking into account the (more than modest) size of the local sword scene. Mirroring the UK sword ban which was introduced in April 2008 as one of the questionable measures to fight 'knife crime', authentic hand-made Japanese swords (Nihonto) are exempt (however I couldn't yet find any reference to whether sports equipment such as iaito and shinken is to be banned or not). The real concern is the practical side of the legislation and the way it's going to be implemented. There's been numerous occasions in UK since introduction of the sword ban when law-abiding collectors had trouble importing antique swords. It's perfectly understandable due to the fact that in order for Customs to make sure that it's legal to import a sword, some sort of certificate required proving its age and provenance. And the most common cert of this kind (if any) is the NBTHK paper hand-written in Japanese. No wonder Customs officers, sorting office workers and law enforcement authorities would not be able to take it as a supportive documentation without difficult (and costly) translation.And this is the neigbouring UK which is much more accustomed to importing/exporting Japanese collectible weapons than Irish. How many Customs officers and An Post employees were instructed about differences between replica and authentic Japanese swords or even have seen ones? Will they be collector-friendly or take an eBay approach and stop any import of 'illegal samurai-like swords' unless (with immense trouble) proven otherwise? If temporarily or permanently seized, will real Nihonto be given a proper care? There is no doubt that circulation of cheap and dangerous replica had to be stopped, even with the level or crime involving samurai swords being ridiculously low in comparison to the usage of widely available home utensils.But will the fair treatment of martial arts practitioners and sword collectors be guaranteed? Time will tell.

Dear All, I can imagine Nihonto related activities might have taken a temporary back set in the hometown of our esteemed Moderator... http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/92869 ... mpy-record Best regards, Barry Thomas.

Dear All, A friend sent me the following email information, which I feel bound to pass on without comment for general interest and information: ------------------------------ I came across this fellow on ebay today offering his services as Sword Polisher . The Item Number is 160374890927. ------------------------------- There are 12 photos of various swords in polish. The "auction" for a madoaki (window) ends in about 12 hours. If anyone who reads this has missed the auction and the details I have preserved the images and description. Please PM me if anyone wants this information. Best regards, Barry Thomas.

G'day All, In my early days of collecting it was very exciting to (a) find a sword and buy it, (b) translate the mei all by oneself and © find the smith was a pre-1868 man in Hawley's books, subsequently realising in some cases that it was a Showato in disguise. The first one such was a Mondo no Sho Masakiyo with aoi mon. However, the blade looked "funny". I eventually concluded it was a Showato (not a Gendaito) and passed it on. I also found another sword with a Shinto maker "in the books" that was also a Showato. Then there was a sword with a mei to a Koto Mino Kanekado that the owner had allegedly been offered a car for!!! Another obvious Showato. Friends have seen other swords of this kind. With a reasonable number of such found in our small part of the world my conclusion at that time was that these swords were indeed gimei intended to deceive. I hadn't thought that they might be regarded as "patriotic" with everyone in on the act, so I guess the jury is still out on the question??? Regards, Barry Thomas.

Ford et al, No baguettes involved - he wanted to see his Flat Mate... Regards, Barry Thomas.

Were not Golden Gourds the mon of Hideyoshi???? Probably no association, or there would be three gourds?? Barry Thomas.

Well, hooray for a moment of levity (="if Ford can do it so can I") Why did the frog cross the road??? Barry Thomas.

G'day Jim, I'll stick my neck out and say nice-looking sword. The hamon shows ashi ('feet') and a tendency to saka ('sloping' or 'leaning' and a good nioi (fine crystal structure). The nakago is nicely shaped, filed and signed. I'd like to see better pics (i.e., higher resolution) of the hamon in various parts of the blade (point, midway and at the machi) as well as a better shot of the tang. I'd also like to see more effort at cropping out the useless information in a picture and to rotate the tangs to vertical so I don't have to crack my ancient neck vertebrae looking at it sideways!!! Jim, for closeups of the tang try putting the sword running left-right and use the flash. Take a number of pics straight above, higher and lower (as in north-south not up-down) to get a pic without reflected glare from from the flash. I've attached a sample of what I mean. This image is 100kbyte jpeg which I THINK will fit here. I've also rotated and cropped your image Jim and played with the brightness and contrast a.w.a. the colour balance and attached it here as well so you can see what is possible. Imagine, blokes, how much better your images will look if you pay more attention to their presentation, which is more likely to attract the desired help from already busy people... Best regards, Barry Thomas.

Aaaaaagh, Jeez, 'nuther birfday (known in some quarters as a 'barfday'. I've just sent good birthday wishes to my two brothers and as they live a fair way apart I sent them the same card each. It went like this "For your Birthday I've sent you a Pole Dancer" (open card) "His name's Ivan and he's from WARSAW...". And what a pretty sight he was - NOT. So Brian, there's my birthday card for you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU GETTINK OLDER GEEZER. Times a'passing, swords are a'waiting... Come to Oz and we'll show you a few. Bestests, BaZZa. aka Barry Thomas amongst many other things.

Mark, Can we see pictures of the koshirae please??? Regards, Barry Thomas.

I certainly agree with this statement. I notice that one of these mon (lhs) is on the kabutogane of a shingunto and feel obliged to pass on some information I was given many years ago - true or not, I don't know. I have a shingunto koshirae with a nidai Hizen Tadahiro katana in it and one of the menuki has a mon on it. I searched such resources as I had at the time and couldn't find it so sent an image to Albert Yamanaka in Japan. He couldn't find it either and commented "Many WW2 officers who weren't of samurai descent "made up" mon to give the impression that were from a samurai line". Comments??? Regards, Barry Thomas.

FWIW this humble observer concurs with the above two gentlemen - my sediments exactly... Regards, Barry Thomas.

Gabriel, Might I suggest that the hamon is, in fact, nowhere to be seen. What you call the hamon is simply the outline of the yakiba, and what appears to be the hamon is (as you know) the hadori. The hamon (as we understand it) is invisible in this lighting. The blade needs to be turned slightly in the light to "lose" the hadori and light up the nioi/nie of the hamon proper. This is (IN GENERAL) my principal objection to hadori as a style of polish. I say "in general" because I have read where some blades require hadori to present them at their best, and it is this facet of kantei that I do not yet fully understand (after 45 years!!!). All I know is from empirical evidence - I have seen many hadori polishes, yet those sashikomi polishes on my swords returning from Japan please my eye - and those of my fellow collectors here in Victoria - far more than any hadori polish I have seen over the years. A visiting polisher once said to me that "it doesn't have to be like that", but I have yet to see the proof of the pudding. Perhaps when Andrew Ickeringill comes home from Japan I might at least become wiser... Regards, Barry Thomas.

Guido, I had my tongue firmly in my cheek, of course!! However, I do the same thing around my family, because whenever I come out with knowledge I get beaten up!! So I'm trying to maintain a Zen silence as a survival technique!!! That way I can continue to collect quietly... Regards, Barry Thomas.

Guido, I was surprised to see your question - mainly because I thought you knew "everything"... Even more surprised that I might be able to contribute to this thread!! For years I have known the theme as "Buddhist Wheels in Water" so I popped these keywords into google (no quotes) [ buddhist wheels water ] and got a stack of hits - lotsa reading there me hearties. Then I searched within those results with [ Japan ] with about 400,000 hits. I would hope there is a simpler answer to Guido's question, but I wonder if this would suffice as a start: ----------------------------------------- The wheel is an emblem of Buddhism, a religion introduced to Japan from China in the 6th century. Chinese classics like the Lao Tzu mention that the revolving wheel was considered a direct symbol of the universe. Originating in India, the rinbō or hōrin (Sanskrit: dharmachakra), the Wheel of Buddhist Law, is adopted from the Middle Eastern chariot wheel and represents the completeness of Buddhist doctrine, while its eight spokes signify Buddhism's "eightfold path" to enlightenment. A rinbō appears in the exhibition on a kind of altar from a temple in Japan that similarly depicts crossed vajras, Buddhist emblems that are considered to represent the Wheel of Buddhist Law as well. ------------------------------------------ ( http://www.morikami.org/index.php?src=g ... y=Exhibits ) Of course, water is not mentioned here, but the above would seem a fruitful line of enquiry for more fruitful discoveries - perhaps someone already knows "The Answer", in this case most certainly not 42... Regards, Barry Thomas.

I agree. The first thing I noticed was the extreme "chippy" style of the kanji (meibun???) and I immediately said to myself "GUNTO". Until Grey raised the ugly word I was simply going to ask if this "chippy" style was around in Koto times. I don't believe so. I too have seen other swords with a "rust spot" right where an arsenal stamp would be... Regards, Barry Thomas.

MATE, I DON'T THINK I'LL SEND YOU THAT BOTTLE OF WINE AFTER ALL... Regards, Barry Thomas.

Grey, Yes, the sword has to be seen in hand. I honestly cannot comprehend how a "perfectly hardened kissaki" can bend at the tip without breaking. I understand you've seen it with your own eyes Grey, but I wonder about the "hardness" of the yakiba and battle-worthiness in such a case. However, always something to learn and I've tucked this nugget of yours away in my memory banks for a future encounter. I have myself seen only one blade that had the tip bent AND BROKEN - it was hanging on by the kawagane and would probably have broken completely off if straightened. Frankly, I would be very suss about any sword with a bent tip and a hamon. Of course, it would depend on everything else. On Koto being crack resistant, a Japanese collector visiting one day commented that Koto were good because if it bent on the battlefield you just straightened it over your thigh and continued on, and demonstrated pantomime-style as he described this process. Best regards, Barry Thomas.

Yes - here is my reply to this question from thread viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5959&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30: Bruno, My opinion is that it is fatal because it should have broken in the first place if it was correctly hardened. The bend as opposed to a break means the steel is soft, which means it isn't correctly hardened or has been damaged by excessive heat that has drawn the hardening. Either way definitely a sword to be avoided like the plague IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) Regards, Barry Thomas.

Bruno, My opinion is that it is fatal because it should have broken in the first place if it was correctly hardened. The bend as opposed to a break means the steel is soft, which means it isn't correctly hardened or has been damaged by excessive heat that has drawn the hardening. Either way definitely a sword to be avoided like the plague IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) Regards, Barry Thomas.

Curran, Yes, coming later. I'll have to take them. The koshirae has some very interesting features, one of which a visiting Japanese togishi said he had never seen before. As a teaser, the same is lacquered gold and the remaining menuki is a swastika. This appears to be very much a custom-ordered sword from the blade to the koshirae. Thanks too for your opinion Rich. As a result of this little exercise I have looked even more closely at this tsuba and have discovered a couple more things about it. I'll try and photograph them with my macro lens, but it could take a few days before I'm back. Regards, Barry Thomas

Well, it is with some trepidation that I venture here with an iron tsuba that may be in the category of (quote Guido) "the junk, fakes and mediocrity that is posted here so often"!!! I've had this for nearly thirty years and have always been somewhat indifferent to it alongside its Goto and Ishiguro shakudo nanako cupboard-fellows. It is, however, original to a handachi with original koshirae and katana dated 1862 by SENDAI HYAKURYUSHI NAGASHIGE (Hawley Brown Book NAG 106?). It fits the characteristics noted - granulated appearance, sukidashi bori, thin?, naive and not signed. The two pictures below show the front and back of the tsuba, dimensions 83mm high x 76mm wide x 3.5mm thick at seppa dai and 4.0mm across mimi. The last two pictures are of some marks on the mimi that could be corrosion pits, but I'm of the opinion that they are deliberately placed. An imitation of Nature's worm holes??? The tsuba has a muted ring when struck (not sonorous, like a bell) and shows evidence of forging with a fold line evident on both sides of the nakago ana and a small fold evident on the mimi. I don't for a moment think this is a first period Kamakura Bori tsuba. I've always thought it was Edo period and was obviously chosen carefully by the owner of the (made to order) Nagashige katana, which by the way is a long, slim blade quite unlike any I've seen before. I've wondered if it was a Fukkoto interpretation of a Heian tachi!!! Anyway, I'd appreciate any opinions on this tsuba that appears to conform to the characteristics of a Kamakura Bori tsuba. Best regards, Barry Thomas.

OOOOOPS - I'm sorry, but in general the designations of these swords go right over my head, my gaze being focussed a little further back in time... I hope somebody gave you a good answer for your REAL question instead of my rambling... Best regards, Barry T.